Improving Mind, Body and Soul

I’m assembling my summer reading list. Actually, it’s two lists: books I know will enlighten, edify, educate or in some other way improve my mind or spirit – and books usually referred to as “beach reads.” The first list included “What is the What” by David Eggers, the story of a Sudanese refugee’s journey to the US; “The Tipping Point,” by Malcolm Gladwell, which offers another way of looking at why things are the way they are; and “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” by Doris Kearns Goodwin, a historian I admire tremendously. All of these books, and the one or two classics I’ve been eying on my bookshelf will provide my brain with a little exercise, like pushups for the mind. My “beach reads” are by Robert Parker, Lee Child and Jeffrey Deaver and similar mystery and crime writers whose works usually end up on the best-seller list. These books are the literary equivalent of “Law and Order” – high-end, low-brow books that keep me firmly within their exciting, complicated but ultimately solvable worlds. While my first list is still in the formative stages, I’ve already bought and begun reading the books on my second list. So much for the mental workout but at least I’m ready for the beach.